I’ve become crit partners with both Steph and Nyrae after reading their books, and then Steph and I decided to write one together (I love collabs by the way – if you want to really stretch yourself as a writer, they’re a great way to do it).

When Steph and I finished our book, we had two choices:

1. Turn it over to my agent

2. Self publish

With my agent having three books on sub, I’m at a standstill until I either strike out, or get an offer on something. So, Steph and I were looking at 3-6 months before we could put the book on submission to editors, and then 3-8 months (yes, I have a book that’s been on submission for eight months – the first one that went out) for our book to be on sub, and then most pub houses are out 18-24 months before a publication date…

You can see where this is going.

Why self-publishing has been my favorite mode of publishing so far:

1. I’m not a patient person.

2. I write fast and have projects stacking up

3. We’ve done everything OUR way on OUR schedule.

It’s been the most relaxing, fun way to publish that I can imagine. Is it the only way I’m going to publish?

Definitely not.

Am I going to do it again?

Funny thing… once we finished our joint project, I picked out a few others that I’ve had tucked away. It’s addictive (like querying was when I was at that stage) and now I’m thinking I’ll move forward with a few more…

I’m always curious how people feel on self-publishing. For it? Against it? Not for it? For it all the way?

18 comments:

Great post. I love that more and more authors are coming "out" about their SP experiences and choices. I used to be like you and then with the time restraints squishing on me from the trad route - I write pretty quick, too - I opted to try it just about 6 weeks ago. I loved the process so much. It is VERY relaxing. Have a great day!

I'm self-published. And I really like it. (BTW, I wish I could write as fast as you do. I wish I could write half as fast as you do.) But it is a lot of work. And it's not for the faint of heart because everything comes back to you the author.

Love your voice, Jolene! Thank you for sharing. I, too, used to frown upon self-publishing. Not anymore. The industry has opened up for us in so many ways. It's exciting, and I love hearing successes like yours. Way to go!

I have friends who are self published, but I'm still not completely sold on it. For one, I'm very selective what self pubbed books I'll buy. I tend to buy traditionally pub over self pub (there are several reasons for that, some which are beyond the typical responses). So far I've only bought self pubbed books from writer friends.

Right now, my TBR pile is sooooo tall, it really doesn't matter how the book is published, the concept has to wow me before it will be added to my pile. ;)

I love to hear that your work is so publishing diverse. I've certainly changed my mind about self pubbing, and might wade into the pool one day. Oh and the process taking so long! That is so hard for me, too!!!!!

Some really good writer's are self publishing. I've read some good SP books and some not so good ones. I don't know if it's for me (yet), but I'm glad I got to read the books that were self published rather than them sitting in a file in someone's desk.

I hadn't even heard of self-publishing until I had to review a self-published novel for a book tour. Ever since then, I've been for it all the way! Good luck with My Heart For Yours and your next project, Jolene!